Jon,

I don't follow TTWO. Just checked, wow, $142.

EA, ATVI and TTWO release so few games I'm not even sure they represent the industry any more, which is dominated by Fortnite, LoL and other F2P games. They've all gotten a coronavirus lockdown boost but do their sales increases recently justify that boost? I mean if everyone is at home playing Fortnite or Steam, why is EA up 10% or 20%? I suppose Epic giving away GTAV must be seen as good news given the recent spike, since more players leads to more MTX, plus Epic must have paid a good amount to do it. I'm not buying any of them at these valuations.

Still kicking myself for seeing Ubi just over $10 after they blew up their fiscal year completely, but I wasn't quick enough and it was back to the previous $15 range so quickly.

They're probably also getting some boost from the upcoming console refresh.

Jon, I ended up doing a short strangle expiring this week, selling 1 each of the $160C and $135P. What happened after hours? I saw it initially at $158 something then it sold off fast, now $140 something last I looked.

I did not do anything, didn't feel like I had a handle on it. On the one hand, they just beat by 61 cents per share and forecast a $1 per share ahead of estimates for next quarter. They also dropped next year's forecast ~$1.25 per share. So FY2020 is ~$6.25 and that drops to half that next year. Of course they can rumor there way up to 2022 (GTA 6 anyone?), but the numbers seems as wonky as ever, just larger than in the past. lol.

 

The New York City-based company earned an adjusted $1.50 a share on net bookings of $729.4 million for the quarter ended March 31. Analysts expected Take-Two earnings of 89 cents a share on sales of $582 million. In the year-earlier period, Take-Two earned an adjusted 78 cents a share on net bookings of $488.4 million.

For the current quarter ending June 30, Take-Two expects to earn an adjusted $1.50 a share on net bookings of $825 million. That's based on the midpoint of its outlook. Wall Street was modeling earnings of 50 cents a share on sales of $476.6 million in its fiscal first quarter.

While TTWO stock and its peers have gotten a boost from increased game usage by people stuck at home during the Covid-19 pandemic, the maker of such hit games as "Grand Theft Auto" and "Red Dead Redemption" guided below views for the current fiscal 2021.

Year Ahead Will Be Light For New Game Releases

For the full fiscal year, Take-Two forecast adjusted earnings of $3.12 a share on net bookings of $2.6 billion. Analysts were looking for $4.34 a share on sales of $2.69 billion. Its fiscal year ends March 31, 2021.

"While fiscal 2021 will be a light new release year, we expect to deliver strong results, reflecting the diversity and strength of our catalog and live service offerings," Chief Executive Strauss Zelnick said in the earnings news release.

The company has some major game releases coming next year, including sequels from its biggest franchises and new properties, he said. That's partly related to the next-generation game consoles coming this holiday season from Microsoft (MSFT) and Sony (SNE).

"We're definitely mindful of the fact that new consoles are coming and we are developing for them," Zelnick told Investor's Business Daily. "We always want to balance being in a place where the consumer is with bringing out our highest quality titles. This year will be a light release schedule as the consoles are initially launched."

TTWO Stock Surges In Late Trading

In after-hours trading on the stock market today, TTWO stock initially jumped but soon reversed. In recent trades, it was down 3.4%, near 141.80. During the regular session, TTWO rose 3.2% to 146.84. Earlier in the session, TTWO stock notched an all-time high of 149.26.

On April 14, TTWO stock broke out of a cup-with-handle base at a buy point of 124.01, according to IBD MarketSmith charts. It ended the regular session Wednesday just below the 20%-to-25% profit-taking zone.

GTAVI over three years away?

venturebeat.com/20...-date/

Jester,

Great as GTA V was, when it's being given away for free finally signals it's long in the tooth.

GTA V: Long in the tooth, but still one of the most popularly played games.

Jon,

Absolutely true for almost everyone on GTA V - except for me - I played it years ago for about 30 minutes - and although beating someone with a baseball bat while kicking them in the balls was fun enough, I never really got into it. My only point in my post being that Epic games was giving away free copies of it, and unless they were paying TTWO good $ for the opportunity, it may spell that this iteration might really have run its course. Or....maybe it'll be like the Beatles are to music - each new generation discovers their music and becomes fans, regardless that they broke up 50 years ago.

I am inordinately curious about what CIEN will deliver June 5th. Like you, I think I don't want to write any more options and have any more stock called away.